US4754430A - Memory cell with dual collector, active load transistors - Google Patents
Memory cell with dual collector, active load transistors Download PDFInfo
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- US4754430A US4754430A US06/943,986 US94398686A US4754430A US 4754430 A US4754430 A US 4754430A US 94398686 A US94398686 A US 94398686A US 4754430 A US4754430 A US 4754430A
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- G—PHYSICS
- G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
- G11C—STATIC STORES
- G11C11/00—Digital stores characterised by the use of particular electric or magnetic storage elements; Storage elements therefor
- G11C11/21—Digital stores characterised by the use of particular electric or magnetic storage elements; Storage elements therefor using electric elements
- G11C11/34—Digital stores characterised by the use of particular electric or magnetic storage elements; Storage elements therefor using electric elements using semiconductor devices
- G11C11/40—Digital stores characterised by the use of particular electric or magnetic storage elements; Storage elements therefor using electric elements using semiconductor devices using transistors
- G11C11/41—Digital stores characterised by the use of particular electric or magnetic storage elements; Storage elements therefor using electric elements using semiconductor devices using transistors forming static cells with positive feedback, i.e. cells not needing refreshing or charge regeneration, e.g. bistable multivibrator or Schmitt trigger
- G11C11/411—Digital stores characterised by the use of particular electric or magnetic storage elements; Storage elements therefor using electric elements using semiconductor devices using transistors forming static cells with positive feedback, i.e. cells not needing refreshing or charge regeneration, e.g. bistable multivibrator or Schmitt trigger using bipolar transistors only
- G11C11/4116—Digital stores characterised by the use of particular electric or magnetic storage elements; Storage elements therefor using electric elements using semiconductor devices using transistors forming static cells with positive feedback, i.e. cells not needing refreshing or charge regeneration, e.g. bistable multivibrator or Schmitt trigger using bipolar transistors only with at least one cell access via separately connected emittors of said transistors or via multiple emittors, e.g. T2L, ECL
Definitions
- This invention relates to solid state memory cells wherein cross coupled bipolar switching transistors utilize dual collector bipolar transistors as active loads.
- FIG. 1 shows an active load bipolar RAM memory cell 10 referred to as a complementary transistor switch (CTS) cell.
- CTS complementary transistor switch
- bipolar switching transistors 12 and 14 each have their bases connected to the collector of the other switching transistor.
- Transistors 12 and 14 employ bipolar transistors 16 and 18, respectively, as active loads.
- Two read/write Schottky diodes 20 and 22, and anti-saturation clamp Schottky diodes 24 and 26 complete cell 10.
- cell 10 is either in standby, read or write mode.
- load transistor 16 or 18 is conducting and diodes 20 and 22 are non-conducting.
- Excess switching transistor base current is directed through anti-saturation diode 24 or 26. This prevents a build-up of carriers in the bases of the switching transistors, thus preparing the cell for fast switching. It also improves the speed of the CTS cell as compared to a standard silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) cell where diodes 24 and 26 are not used.
- SCR silicon controlled rectifier
- the load transistors are off. Current is supplied to the switching transistors only through the bit lines. For a write, the selected bit line voltage is raised sufficiently to flip the direction of current flow in the switching transistors.
- a merged transistor layout is employed where the same doped region is used for two different transistors where possible (e.g., the base of transistor 12 is the collector of transistor 16). This, along with the absence of resistors in the cell, results in a very compact structure.
- Schottky diodes 20 and 22 must remain on (i.e. be forward biased) in the standby mode. This reduces the voltage differential of the cell thereby reducing noise margins. Further, the dependence on reliable Schottky diodes increases processing difficulties.
- a memory cell which retains the advantages of the CTS cell yet affords improved noise margins and does not employ Schottky diodes is highly desirable.
- a solid state memory cell includes two cross coupled npn switching transistors, and two pnp active load transistors. Each active load transistor has two collectors. In each load transistor, one of the collectors is directly connected to the base. The additional collector in the load transistors acts as an additional current source for the collector of one of the switching transistors. The result is less heavily saturated switching transistors and a faster operating cell than a cell where the load transistors have only one collector.
- FIG. 1 is a schematic of a related art, CTS memory cell.
- FIG. 2 is a schematic of the memory cell of the present invention.
- FIG. 3 is a schematic of a master-slave flip-flop which utilizes the present invention.
- FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a monolithic IC implementation of half of the memory cell of the present invention.
- Memory cell 28 incorporates the present invention, and includes first and second pnp bipolar active load transistors T 1 and T 2 , and first and second npn bipolar switching transistors T 3 and T 4 .
- Cell 28 is configured in FIG. 2 as a RAM cell for illustrative purposes.
- Transistor T 1 has two collectors (i.e., 38 and 40), as does transistor T 2 (i.e. 42 and 44).
- Collector 40 of T 1 is directly connected to the base 46 of T 1
- collector 44 of T 2 is directly connected to the base 48 of T 2 .
- merged transistor configurations are employed to form T 1 and T 3 , and to form T 2 and T 4 .
- the collector 50 of T 3 is also the base 46 of T 1 and the base 52 of T 3 is also collector 38 of T 1 .
- the collector 54 of T 4 is also the base 48 off T 2 and the base 56 of T 4 is also collector 42 of T 2 .
- the first emitter 60 of T 3 is directly connected to the first emitter 62 of T 4 at node 64. Node 64 in turn is connected to standby line 66.
- Cell 28 is completed by the cross coupling of base 52 of T 3 to collector 54 of T 4 (i.e., by conductive line 80), and of base 56 of T 4 to collector 50 of T 3 (i.e., by conductive line 82).
- T 1 , T 2 , T 3 and T 4 provide a bistable, regenerative circuit.
- cell 28 connects to left and right bit lines 68 and 70, by way of second emitters 72 and 74 of T 3 and T 4 , respectively.
- cell 28 connects to left and right bit lines 68 and 70 by way of diodes (preferrably Schottky diodes) 76 and 78.
- diodes preferrably Schottky diodes
- cell 28 operates in one of three modes--standby, read or write. In each mode only "one-half" of cell 28 will be conducting, the other half will be nonconducting. T 1 and T 3 form one half of cell 28, T 2 and T 4 the other half.
- the wordline voltage is low and the voltage on both bit lines is high.
- Current is drawn by standby line 66 from wordline 36 through, for example, T 2 and T 4 (i.e., T 2 and T 4 are each on, and T 1 and T 3 are each off).
- the current flows primarily through emitter 62 of T 4 with little, if any, current through emitter 74 to bit line 70.
- the collector current of T 4 is provided by both the base 48 of T 2 and the second collector 44 of T 2 .
- the base current of T 4 is provided solely from the first collector 42 of T 2 . If the second collector 44 of T 2 were not present, the collector current of T 4 would equal the base current of T 2 , and the base current of T 4 would equal the collector current of T 2 . In that case, both T 2 and T 4 would be heavily saturated, resulting in relatively slow transistor switching and slow cell operation.
- the base current of T 2 is less than the collector current of T 4 .
- the less heavily saturated transistor T 4 can switch faster and cell 28 can operate faster than a cell without the second collector.
- the same speed advantage will hold true for T 3 if the left half of cell 28 were conducting instead of the right half.
- the wordline voltage is raised.
- the voltage on the bit line connected to the conducting side of cell 28 will be high, and the voltage on the other bit line will be low.
- Substantial current will now be drawn through both emitters 62 and 74 of T 4 .
- the wordline voltage will be raised from the standby voltage and (for the case where initially T 2 and T 4 are conducting) the voltage on the left bit line 68 lowered to below its read voltage.
- T 2 and T 4 will switch off, T 1 and T 3 will switch on, and current will flow from wordline 36 to bit line 68 through emitter 72 of T 3 .
- Emitter 60 of T 3 will then conduct.
- Cell 28 as implemented in FIG. 4 includes parasitic vertical pnp transistors T6 and T8 in each of the two halves of the cell.
- emitter 90 of T6 is the base 56 of T4 and collector 42 of T2.
- Base 92 of T6 is the collector 54 of T4 and base 48 of T2.
- Collector 94 of T6 is the substrate, 88.
- emitter 96 is the emitter 32 of T2
- base 98 is collector 54 of T4 and base 48 of T2
- collector 100 is the substrate, 88.
- These transistors (T6 and T8) are also present in similar implementations of a CTS cell or standard SCR cell.
- transistors T6 and T8 are conducting in the half of the cell which is conducting.
- the collector current for T6 and T8 goes into the substrate, resulting in wasted power and slower cell operation. It is desirable to minimize this current into the substrate to reduce power dissipation and increase write speed for the cell.
- both the load transistor and the switching transistor which are conducting are heavily saturated. This results in large base-emitter voltages on T6 and T8.
- the load and switching devices are less heavily saturated, so the base-emitter voltages on T6 and T8 are lower and less current is wasted into the substrate.
- the present invention can also be employed as a memory cell of a register.
- An example of a master-slave flip-flop register using two cells 84 and 86 of the present invention is shown in FIG. 3. Corresponding transistors between FIGS. 2 and 3 are like-labelled. Note that the flip-flop includes resistors R 1 , R 2 and R 3 . It functions with input signals IN and INB (where INB is the complement of IN), clock signals CP and CPN (where CPN is the complement of CP), voltage reference VR, voltage supply VCC and outputs OUT and OUTB (where OUTB is the complement of OUT).
- the cell voltage differential is increased because there is no Schottky diode clamping the base-collector voltage of the npn switching transistors T3 and T4. In turn, noise margin is increased making the cell more resistant to soft errors such as errors due to particle radiation.
- FIG. 4 shows a sectional view of one half of cell 28, with corresponding structure between FIGS. 2 and 4 like-numbered.
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- Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
- Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
- Semiconductor Memories (AREA)
- Static Random-Access Memory (AREA)
Abstract
Description
Claims (7)
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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US06/943,986 US4754430A (en) | 1986-12-18 | 1986-12-18 | Memory cell with dual collector, active load transistors |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
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US06/943,986 US4754430A (en) | 1986-12-18 | 1986-12-18 | Memory cell with dual collector, active load transistors |
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US4754430A true US4754430A (en) | 1988-06-28 |
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US06/943,986 Expired - Lifetime US4754430A (en) | 1986-12-18 | 1986-12-18 | Memory cell with dual collector, active load transistors |
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Cited By (14)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4858181A (en) * | 1987-07-07 | 1989-08-15 | Texas Instruments Incorporated | Fast recovery PNP loaded bipolar static RAM memory cell with an independent current path |
US4922411A (en) * | 1988-12-27 | 1990-05-01 | Atmel Corporation | Memory cell circuit with supplemental current |
US5016214A (en) * | 1987-01-14 | 1991-05-14 | Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation | Memory cell with separate read and write paths and clamping transistors |
US5020027A (en) * | 1990-04-06 | 1991-05-28 | International Business Machines Corporation | Memory cell with active write load |
US5040145A (en) * | 1990-04-06 | 1991-08-13 | International Business Machines Corporation | Memory cell with active write load |
US5091881A (en) * | 1989-06-13 | 1992-02-25 | Atmel Corporation | Multiple port memory including merged bipolar transistors |
WO2016049581A1 (en) * | 2014-09-25 | 2016-03-31 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Cross-coupled thyristor sram circuits and methods of operation |
WO2016049594A1 (en) * | 2014-09-25 | 2016-03-31 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Two-transistor sram semiconductor structure and methods of fabrication |
WO2016049599A1 (en) * | 2014-09-25 | 2016-03-31 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Write assist sram circuits and methods of operation |
US9564199B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2017-02-07 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Methods of reading and writing data in a thyristor random access memory |
US9564441B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2017-02-07 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Two-transistor SRAM semiconductor structure and methods of fabrication |
US9741413B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2017-08-22 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Methods of reading six-transistor cross-coupled thyristor-based SRAM memory cells |
US9837418B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2017-12-05 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Thyristor volatile random access memory and methods of manufacture |
US10090037B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2018-10-02 | Tc Lab, Inc. | Methods of retaining and refreshing data in a thyristor random access memory |
Citations (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4538244A (en) * | 1983-12-29 | 1985-08-27 | Fujitsu Limited | Semiconductor memory device |
-
1986
- 1986-12-18 US US06/943,986 patent/US4754430A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
Patent Citations (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4538244A (en) * | 1983-12-29 | 1985-08-27 | Fujitsu Limited | Semiconductor memory device |
Cited By (31)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US5016214A (en) * | 1987-01-14 | 1991-05-14 | Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation | Memory cell with separate read and write paths and clamping transistors |
US4858181A (en) * | 1987-07-07 | 1989-08-15 | Texas Instruments Incorporated | Fast recovery PNP loaded bipolar static RAM memory cell with an independent current path |
US4922411A (en) * | 1988-12-27 | 1990-05-01 | Atmel Corporation | Memory cell circuit with supplemental current |
US5091881A (en) * | 1989-06-13 | 1992-02-25 | Atmel Corporation | Multiple port memory including merged bipolar transistors |
US5020027A (en) * | 1990-04-06 | 1991-05-28 | International Business Machines Corporation | Memory cell with active write load |
US5040145A (en) * | 1990-04-06 | 1991-08-13 | International Business Machines Corporation | Memory cell with active write load |
US9613968B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2017-04-04 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Cross-coupled thyristor SRAM semiconductor structures and methods of fabrication |
CN106537507B (en) * | 2014-09-25 | 2018-06-19 | 克劳帕斯科技有限公司 | Cross-linked thyristor SRAM circuit and operating method |
WO2016049599A1 (en) * | 2014-09-25 | 2016-03-31 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Write assist sram circuits and methods of operation |
US9449669B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2016-09-20 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Cross-coupled thyristor SRAM circuits and methods of operation |
US9564199B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2017-02-07 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Methods of reading and writing data in a thyristor random access memory |
US9564198B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2017-02-07 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Six-transistor SRAM semiconductor structures and methods of fabrication |
US9564441B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2017-02-07 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Two-transistor SRAM semiconductor structure and methods of fabrication |
CN106537507A (en) * | 2014-09-25 | 2017-03-22 | 克劳帕斯科技有限公司 | Cross-coupled thyristor SRAM circuits and methods of operation |
WO2016049581A1 (en) * | 2014-09-25 | 2016-03-31 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Cross-coupled thyristor sram circuits and methods of operation |
US9741413B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2017-08-22 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Methods of reading six-transistor cross-coupled thyristor-based SRAM memory cells |
US9748223B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2017-08-29 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Six-transistor SRAM semiconductor structures and methods of fabrication |
US9837418B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2017-12-05 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Thyristor volatile random access memory and methods of manufacture |
US9899389B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2018-02-20 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Two-transistor SRAM semiconductor structure and methods of fabrication |
WO2016049594A1 (en) * | 2014-09-25 | 2016-03-31 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Two-transistor sram semiconductor structure and methods of fabrication |
US10020043B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2018-07-10 | Tc Lab, Inc. | Methods of reading and writing data in a thyristor random access memory |
US10056389B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2018-08-21 | Kilopass Technology, Inc. | Cross-coupled thyristor SRAM semiconductor structures and methods of fabrication |
US10090037B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2018-10-02 | Tc Lab, Inc. | Methods of retaining and refreshing data in a thyristor random access memory |
US10283185B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2019-05-07 | Tc Lab, Inc. | Write assist thyristor-based SRAM circuits and methods of operation |
US10332886B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2019-06-25 | Tc Lab, Inc. | Thyristor volatile random access memory and methods of manufacture |
US10381063B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2019-08-13 | Tc Lab, Inc. | Methods of reading and writing data in a thyristor random access memory |
US10438952B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2019-10-08 | Tc Lab, Inc. | Method of writing into and refreshing a thyristor volatile random access memory |
US10460789B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2019-10-29 | Tc Lab, Inc. | Methods of reading and writing data in a thyristor random access memory |
US10529718B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2020-01-07 | Tc Lab, Inc. | Thyristor volatile random access memory and methods of manufacture |
US10553588B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2020-02-04 | Tc Lab, Inc. | Thyristor volatile random access memory and methods of manufacture |
US11114438B2 (en) | 2014-09-25 | 2021-09-07 | Tc Lab, Inc. | Thyristor volatile random access memory and methods of manufacture |
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